


Devil Take the Hindmost

by Tsukiko Hoshino (Ophiras)



Series: Stupid With Love [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: And wins a bet, F/M, Gaara just wants to be noticed by his Sensei, Its not love at first sight, Sakura is constantly defying expectations, Sasori is all about following one's self-interests., Sasori likes that., Tsunade burns Sasori, a prequel, inside the mind if a brilliant but somewhat mad-man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:48:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24544909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ophiras/pseuds/Tsukiko%20Hoshino
Summary: It was  slow, unconventional march towards love but Sasori could recall every instance in which Sakura left him bewildered, unseen strings slowly constricting his heart.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Sasori
Series: Stupid With Love [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1773955
Comments: 30
Kudos: 269





	1. I

Time was a commodity; the human lifespan was short and woefully fragile, a fact he had learned at an early age. Therefore Sasori did his best not to waste what he had, even when he had plans that _could_ have subverted those worries if he were so inclined. Though that scheme of his had more appeal in his teenage years. ‘Largely the work of imbalanced hormones and a yet to fully develop brain.’ Some would argue early childhood trauma played a part but the last person who attempted to psychoanalyze him had to spend a 6th month stint in Suna’s psychiatric ward. ‘I clearly went easy on them.’ Things could have been so much worse for Dr.Shin.  
  
In time and with age Sasori came to the conclusion that substituting one form for another wouldn’t change what was on the inside and the process was probably not worth the sacrifice such as things were. ‘ Well, no one is as wise at 15 as they are at 30.’ He had realized that just because he could do something it didn’t always mean he should. Though there were plenty of times where some minor everyday annoyance made him reconsider the decision.  
  
Sasori still valued permanence, believing that true artistry laid in morphing what was meant to be a finite thing into something that would endure more than a single lifetime but he now saw that one did not need to be immortal to be _immortalized_ . To be remembered generations beyond his own, to be spoken of like a myth would be a testament to his existence. ‘And my future offspring.’ But those were a genetic legacy that wouldn’t come to be if the only person he had a desire to create them with worked herself to an early death.  
  
Sakura’s focus and dedication to whatever task she set herself upon had always been attractive traits but not at the theft of time he was meant to have with her. At least once that week she’d been late to dinner, another night she’d skipped it all together. It was more than annoying, it was simply unacceptable. Sasori didn’t begrudge Sakura her work or her interests; he simply wanted her to do it at normal hours and at a healthy pace. ‘And if she doesn’t come to dinner it just means that dinner has to go to her.’ During which he would subtly remind her that Suna was not going to pay her extra for working late or finishing her mission early so there was no point in rushing.  
  
The food had been packed into bento’s and he set out, parcels kept steady through graceful movements and steady hands as he traveled. The closer he got to his destination the more crowded the streets became until he took to the rooftops to avoid the people below. In Sasori’s more unfavorable critiques of his village he had noted that from up high it looked much like the mounds of a rather extensive termite colony sunk into the pits of the desert. Lamps cast a golden-toned glow across the cobweb structured streets below, growing more dense as he approached the hospital.   
  
Suna’s architecture favored rounded shapes and most of the windows were no different. Some were more oblong then circular but they were almost always large enough for Shinobi to use as entrances and exits as was their preference--doors were too conspicuous when one wanted to keep their comings and goings stealthy. The window that fed into Sakura’s office was no different and it took only a little coaxing from his chakra threads to unlatch the lock from the outside, hinges opening as silently as his feet hitting the floor.  
 _  
_It was not an indictment on Sakura’s abilities that she didn’t stir when he entered the room but rather a mark of his own prowess. ‘A puppet-master’s best work is done when they remain out of sight and out of mind.’ The real threat was never the one that was obvious, it was the one that remained unseen and unfelt until it was too late to escape.  
  
The room’s lone source of illumination came from a desk lamp poised over Sakura’s drooped head like a spotlight, the rest of the office cast in dark shadow. Before rounding the table Sasori had given some consideration to dropping the boxes on the desk loud enough to startle her awake in a passive show of annoyance but the thought fled when he caught a glimpse of her sleeping face.  
  
Arms laced over the binder she’d been working in, Sakura’s cheek was pillowed against the crook of her arm. Coral lips pressed into a faint pout as her eyes moved beneath the thin, delicate skin of her lids. it seemed to him as if even in her dreams Sakura was stuck reading whatever she’d been working on before drifting off. Her hair, longer than it had been when she was 15 spilled over her shoulder and curled against the papers below.  
  
Sasori prided himself on having excellent recollection so it was of no surprise that he could recall with clarity the first time he took notice of Sakura and every time after.  
  
  
 _  
__In the third match of the Chūnin exams Kankurō was set against some Konoha-nobody he could never be bothered to recall. The outcome had been exactly as Sasori expected even as he kept an ear and eye on the rest of the onlookers. He didn’t trust Orochimaru or his second in command but Rasa had already made his decision, unwise as it was and things were to proceed as planned. Not one to ignore his own instincts, Sasori's head had been full of contingency plans in the event of an almost inevitable double cross._ _  
__  
__Even if he had not been looking for an excuse to work his way out of the oncoming mess, the loud complaints of one of Kakashi’s more obnoxious students did not go unheard; “How is two versus one not cheating?!”_ _  
__  
__“To begin with, there are only two people in the ring. The other one isn’t a person, it's like...a doll.” The one with pink hair, looking rather like she’d been chewed up and spit out during 2nd phase sighed as she explained. Of those who had survived the forest she had come out looking worse for wear. Sasori’s team had come out completely unscathed--also as expected._ _  
__  
__“They call it puppet technique, that doll he used was no different then you or I using a shuriken or a kunai. It's only a tool that he controls via chakra.” She’d said. The explanation only stuck in his mind because ninja puppetry was a Sunagakure speciality in the same way the Sharingan or the Byakugan could normally only be found in Shinobi who originated from Konohagakure. A genin being able to recognize what she was seeing on sight meant she was at the very least well informed unlike her companion._ _  
__  
__“What a bunch of weirdos, dattebayo...”_ _  
__  
__“You’re one to talk.” Kakashi had replied and he, having not quite tuned them out could hear the girl giggling. “Ah, Sakura-chan...now’s not the time to laugh. Take a look. You’re up.” The careless twittering stopped cold. Haruno Sakura Vs Yamanaka Ino was clearly displayed upon the screen._ _  
__  
__There had been some yammering about Uchiha Sasuke between the two of them that Sasori rolled his eyes at recalling because during that exam even Temari had subtly admired the boy for reasons beyond him. Most of what he recalled from that fight had been the two girls wailing on one another with fists and rudimentary techniques. The only occurrence of any substance was that Sakura had thrown a Yamanaka out of her head through willpower alone. It would have been a more impressive feat if it weren’t clear how pathetic a member of the clan that other girl was._ _  
__  
__The match ended in a double knock out and so far there had not been a single Konoha genin worth noting. Even Hatake’s little star pupil, the same one Orochimaru was so desirous of, seemed completely unimpressive compared to his own students. Sasori didn't think much of Sasuke back then and he thought even worse of him in the present day._ _  
__  
__Admittedly he had not thought much of Sakura back then, or anyone really._ _  
__  
__Temari had proceeded to the arena after that, taking a swift and brutal victory over her opponent. ‘The old guard of Konoha are losing it if they think their genin are up to snuff.’ he’d thought, recognizing how soft, how inexperienced they all were._ _  
__  
__It would later become clear to him that Hatake’s team was also in possession of a sealed beast of which the vessel had better control than Gaara though he ran his mouth and fought in the most undisciplined manner Sasori had ever seen. Perhaps due to his unpredictability Naruto had racked up a win that would later turn to three if one counted his unofficial match against Gaara._ _  
__  
__The ninth match set his youngest cousin against the Bowl-Cut in green spandex. Gaara’s defense was meant to be impenetrable--though there were ways around it as evidenced by the sight of it struggling to cope with the speed and force his opponent displayed after he’d removed his self imposed handicap. Using only taijutsu Lee had given Gaara a beating he had not expected._ _  
__  
__“He’s gonna lose it.” Kankurō had whispered in fear, sweat threatening to make streaks through the ridiculous paint he insisted on wearing._ _  
__  
__In the past, whenever the boy had lost control the methods to subdue him had always been more passive than out right aggressive. Smothering and suffusing the boy’s sand with iron or gold, making it heavier to wield so that a sedative could be administered had been Sasori’s preferred method. A sleep so deep not even Shukaku could float to the surface and by the time Gaara woke from the respite his control was better...for a time. The boy could go an unnatural period of time without sleep but eventually he too had to seek oblivion unwillingly or otherwise._ _  
__  
__Gaara took payment in kind for the pounding, crushing the boy’s arm and leg. He would have taken more if it hadn’t been for outside interference of Lee’s mentor._ _  
__  
__“But why?” The sand armor clinging to Gaara’s face was chipped and cracked as he clutched his head. “Why save him?” He’d asked._ _  
__  
__“Because he is my precious student.”_ _  
__  
__Those were words that Gaara could not comprehend. Students meant nothing to Sasori beyond an investment of precious time and endless annoyances. True, he had never been particularly desirous to see them struck down or killed by their own stupidity, not out of sentimentality but due to the headaches and blot to his reputation such an occurrence would cause. That didn’t mean they were important to him despite their blood ties. ‘I do my duty to them and expect obedience in return.’ It was a simple arrangement of give and take._ _  
__  
__Temari and Kankurō had both startled at the statement, peering at him from the corners of their eyes when they believed he wasn’t paying attention. ‘Idiots.’ He’d thought, watching as a sense of calm seemed to wash over Gaara once more, prepared to walk away from the match he’d already won._ _  
__  
__Beaten and clearly out of his mind with pain Lee had risen to his feet, intent on finishing a match he couldn’t win only to be held back by the teacher that had saved his life._ _  
__  
__“Sakura, don’t!” Hatake’s voice warned and Sasori turned again to catch sight of the girl, Unimpressive as she was, the girl was poised to lunge down into the arena. “Consoling him will only make this loss harder. There is nothing that you can say.” A moment passed and the determination to defy her teacher faded into resignation, her shoulders slumping._ _  
__  
__There was a whirl of sand and Gaara filled the space between himself and Temari, face placid even when Sasori had no doubt that the boy’s head was an invisible battleground. “Welcome back Gaara...I knew you’d win.” The eldest sibling said in a rare moment of pride without fear._ _  
__  
__The boy made no noise in reply, lips twisted into a frown as he watched his opponent being carted off in a stretcher. “You’ve done well.” Sasori had admitted. His student had taken an unexpected beating and retained his restraint despite its shaking foundation, a modicum of praise was deserved for it. There was an odd look one could have described as hunger in Gaara’s eyes at the words and Sasori had assumed it was simply the Ichibi within him thinking of how it would like to snap his bones within it’s maw. ‘Best of luck.’ he thought to the creature._ _  
__  
__It would be some time before he realized all the boy wanted was more praise, to be seen as something valued. Just like the boy he’d almost crushed._ _  
__  
__The last preliminary match wasn’t even worth remembering--Sasori had only the vague recollection of some rotund child being blown into a wall by one of Orochimaru’s little rats._ _  
__  
__There was a month between the preliminaries and the finals his students were slated to fight in. A month Sasori spent doing subtle recon around the village and spreading out his threads, trying to get ahead of whatever Orochimaru might have been up to and anyone else who might realize too soon that Sunagakure was making moves in the shadows. He hadn’t wanted to be blindsided from any angle and he certainly did not want to be caught between two forces. Which was why when a Konoha-nin was found to be spying, he’d assured Kabuto that he would kill him only to do a bit of double crossing of his own._ _  
__  
__“You’re one of the proctors.” Sasori had said upon studying the coughing man. “You picked an awful night for moon viewing.”_ _  
__  
__The blade being pulled from its scabbard hardly made a whisper. “I don’t know about that...I certainly saw something illuminating.”_ _  
__  
__It was over before it began._ _  
__  
__Sasori didn’t bother unsealing a puppet--he had no intention of a full on fight, not yet at least. The throw of a senbon, so thin and so light it was more for acupuncture than for combat was neither seen nor felt when it was embedded with pin-point accuracy to the man’s neck. While the drug slowed his movements Sasori twisted from the blade, waiting for the inevitable collapse. It took two minutes of artful dodging until his opponent dropped. “It won’t kill you,” He admitted, crouching over the prone man’s form. “But I do have to make things...convincing.” The kunai he’d fished from his side pouch caught the light, the image of it was reflected back to him in the man’s dark eyes._ _  
__  
__“A missing limb is a small price to pay.” The drug the senbon had been drenched in numbed and paralyzed the body but not the mind. “By now you know that Sunagakure and Orochimaru are working together and considering he used to be a member of your village you ought to know best of all what sort of person that man is.” Sasori made quick work of severing the man’s arm from the elbow down. “By the time your senses have returned Konoha will either have been crushed, or Suna will have been betrayed. If it's the latter, You’ll be my insurance.” And if it was the former he could always correct his choice._ _  
__  
__He kept Gekkō sedated the rest of that month, hidden away in some hole in the ground as he waited to see which way the winds would blow. Time would prove him right about Orochimaru, the man was brilliant but loyal only to himself and his goals--a trait that Sasori might have sympathized with if the events hadn’t threatened to pull him down too. Truthfully he had admired the man’s mind on many levels but despised his predilection for chaos that went against his orderly preferences but the thing Orochimaru was most guilty of in Sasori’s eyes was that the snake thought he could lie to him and get away with it. That was the worst sort of sin._ _  
__  
__Sakura probably didn’t recall that he’d come into her family's herbal shop after running low on his own ingredients in treating the missing limb of one of her village comrades. It would not surprise him. She hadn’t bothered to look up from the Genjutsu scroll she’d been laboring over even as she measured out the wormwood and goldenseal he’d requested. Sasori remembered because he’d already made a judgement about her skillset and it didn’t include aptitude for genjutsu. ‘Not when it requires advanced intelligence and precise control.’ He’d thought._ _  
__  
__To his future delight, Sasori turned out to be very wrong about those assumptions._ _  
__  
__From the offset he’d disagreed with Rasa’s decision to ally himself with Orochimaru, he’d argued strongly that rather than pitting themselves against Konoha and running the risk of another war when they were already in crisis they should simply get rid of the source of their problem; The Daimyo. It would have been a simple thing for the man to have an accident and to raise one of his bastards to the position. Then Suna would have a more sympathetic, more easily controlled purse holder. Everyone but the dead man would benefit._ _  
__  
__His uncle had disagreed; it was dishonorable Rasa had said when considering the alliance Orochimaru had proposed. Sasori had nearly laughed, the idea that a man who had willingly sacrificed his own wife and child thinking he knew something about honor struck the chord of his ironic sense of humor. Rasa, who thought what he had done to his own son was justified by his village's desperate straits somehow considered assassinating a Daimyo beneath him. Even to someone like Sasori the man’s priorities had seemed skewed but that decision was one that would end his uncle’s life._ _  
__  
__The Yondaime Kazekage may have been his uncle, but there was little tying them together beyond shared genetics and an unwanted responsibility on his part to three children. Sasori had always been of the opinion that if one were to do something, they ought to do it to the best of their ability and he applied that mindset to mentoring them even if he were unenthused at the idea from the offset._ _  
__  
__Sasori, as in the way his nature dictated, made his own plans aside from the orders he was given. Afterall, One never got far if they simply did as they were told and nothing more. He didn’t mourn his uncle’s death when word was delivered by one of his contacts. Instead he took silent offense to Orochimaru wearing Rasa’s face, as though he wouldn't notice the discrepancies._ _  
__  
__The news of their father’s death was kept from his cousins, He didn’t need them any more emotionally charged or stressed then they already were--not with how things were shaping up. It would have been poor management with low yield results so Sasori gave them new orders to carry out as soon as Kabuto made his move. They were to leave without causing any casualties so that whatever destruction that ensued would be done by Orochimaru and a dead Kazekage._ _  
__  
__“I don’t understand the original plan was--”_ _  
__  
__“You don’t have to understand. You only have to follow orders, Kankurō. Don’t make me repeat myself.” Sasori sipped his tea the morning before the finals, face placid as he took in the confusion on the middle sibling’s face. “Gaara.” There was a far off look in the youngest’s eyes that never boded well._ _  
__  
__Teal eyes dragged their way from the wall they had been staring at._ _  
__  
__“Maintain yourself.” The words were sharp, but his eyes were sharper and a long prolonged period of eye contact ensued. Gaara blinked first and he moved on to instructing Temari._ _  
__  
__Temari only scowled and waved her hand. “I already got it. Kabuto gives the signal and we drop everything and wait for you at the rendezvous point.” She had always been the least fussy of her siblings, but also the most willing to take an attitude._ _  
__  
__Sasori would later station himself in the stadiums during the final match and he had a clear view of Gaara’s control splintering just as Kabuto had dropped a high level genjutsu over the stadium and spectators. Civilians and shinobi alike fell into a deep sleep beneath falling feathers. The majority of those who resisted the sway were Chūnin level or above. Sakura was awake and aware as her village descended into discord and he set his focus on mitigating the damage._ _  
__  
__“What on earth is going on?” The instructor that he recognized as stepping between his student and the Bowl-Cut spoke._ _  
__  
__“Are you lot that slow on the uptake? Your village is being attacked.” Sasori had sneered, watching the oto-nin that were fast approaching. The scrolls that sealed two of his own puppets unfurled, sounding like silk snapping tight as they exploded into smoke. He would scale the level of puppets up as and if needed. Orochimaru’s foot soldiers were going for the weakest first, but they never made it. Instead their heads rolled with the swing of a spring loaded blade. “I guess you’re not completely talentless after all.” He could admit that his first assumption in the herbal shop might have been wrong if she’d managed to avoid falling prey to the genjutsu._ _  
__  
__“Did you know about this?” Hatake wondered, the lank way he held himself was a lie to the tension in his eyes._ _  
__  
__Sasori could remember shrugging, fingers still directing his puppets. “It's not as though you didn’t have your suspicions, you knew Orochimaru was lurking around and you still allowed things to proceed...and now the boy's racing off on his own, giving that snake a perfect opportunity.” The copy-nin tensed, but realized that he had no need to defend himself against the puppet master and turned to dispatch his own round of enemies. “By the way, I know where the person formerly attached to that arm is.” He might have smirked at the stiffening of the jounin’s shoulders._ _  
__  
__Hatake breathed deeply, lone eye flicking to give a look of annoyance in his direction even when they both knew how ineffectual it was. “Sakura, nullify the genjutsu on Naruto and Shikamaru... it's been awhile since you’ve had a mission and the one I’m about to give you is an A-rank. Your first since Wave country.”_ _  
__  
__The notion that she’d been on any A-rank missions had been surprising. She’d seemed too soft, too inexperienced._ _  
__  
__“Is this really the time for that? What kind of mission?” She’d asked, crouched behind a series of seats as bodies were launched over her head._ _  
__  
__“Sasuke is in pursuit of Gaara and the others from Suna, you are to wake those two up and track him down-- he can’t be left on his own as things are.”_ _  
__  
__Sasori almost laughed. “I told my students to vacate this village peacefully. Gaara may be in...the throes of something but I highly advise you don’t chase after them. Are you trying to get your entire cell killed? Better to lose one rather than all three along with someone else's student.” In his opinion it was careless of the other man._ _  
__  
__“Forgive me If I don’t take your word for it Akasuna No Sasori.”_ _  
__  
__“You’re a complete dunce Hatake.” He’d replied before turning to Sakura. “Little Girl, you’d best stay out of Gaara’s way if you want all your internal organs unruptured.” That was the only advice he had to give._ _  
__  
__Sasori would go on to hear from his students how she had completely disregarded his words and nearly gotten herself squished to a pulp of flesh and splintered bone. “She reminded me of Yashamaru…that look.” Gaara had said, palms pressed to his eyes._ _  
__  
__“I can’t make up my mind on whether she was brave or supremely stupid.” Temari mumbled under her breath. “To hold her ground against Gaara like he was…”_ _  
__  
__Stupid had been his assumption, what sort of idiot out their life in danger for someone else? It seemed to be a disease Konoha-Shinobi were replete with._

 _“He said that we...were the same. That what gave him purpose, what chased away the emptiness...were those around him. I want to become like that.” Gaara had whispered and from that moment on Naruto became a guiding star that his eyes followed. His idolship was so great he wanted to become Kazekage and spent a few weeks scowling when he heard the position was to go to his elder cousin instead._ _  
__  
__Hubris had not been why Sasori had assumed that Suna’s council would seek to make him the next Kage when they became in need of one. He was the oldest and in his veins ran the same blood as those who came before him. He may not have been in possession of Magnet Release himself but the probability of his offspring possessing it were as high as his three cousin’s. Not that he had ever needed it, the third so graciously donating his body to Sasori’s...research as he neared the end of his life had put the bloodline limit into his arsenal even when biology had decreed it not to be._ _  
__  
__20 at the time, he was more experienced, smarter and certainly more stable than the other options. ‘And the strongest.’ In the end it was obvious to him who the task of leading Suna would fall to and while Sasori personally preferred to lead from the shadows and work unseen from the sidelines there was a certain allure that came with the thought of rebuilding things as he pleased. There would of course, be many times in which he cursed his decision not to fake his death during the failed invasion._ _  
__  
__“You should have expected this.” He could recall telling Gaara at the time. “You are not even 13 and until recently you were periodically insane. If you want to become Kazekage so badly you ought to show them you’re capable of it.” Sasori may have had a rightfully gained reputation for a lack of care regarding his fellow human beings but he was also known for being logical and more or less sane where it counted. He’d never committed a barbaric series of murders and massive destruction of property...in his own village. “Stop making faces at me and go mend bridges or whatever it is reformed psychopaths like to do. I have actual work.”_ _  
__  
__The family dinners started shortly after that conversation to his great vexation._ _  
__  
__Time passed and both Sunagakura and Konohagakure took on new Kage’s, both fifth in the line. Overtures of peace were made through intermediaries and letters. He even sent his students as support when Hatake’s little Uchiha left seeking Orochimaru--news that he might have had a mental laugh over. ‘For all that talk about trash abandoning their comrades it turned out he was favoring a piece of garbage all along.’ Meanwhile he’d let Sakura and the other one languish under his poor care. ‘Although I suppose In the end everything was as exactly as it needed to be.’ The woman he coveted would not be who she was otherwise._ _  
__  
__Sasori had a very low opinion of the vast majority of people he had the displeasure to meet and Sasuke was no exception even before his eyes turned to Sakura in a less than clinical manner. ‘I don’t begrudge a person wanting to leave their village but that boy is soft in the head and high on unearned arrogance.’ He was of the opinion then and now that everything had been handed to Sasuke in life and that he had never actually worked to receive any of it. ‘Several of his own classmates nearly died retrieving him and if it hadn’t been for Suna’s intervention…’ Sometimes he regretted the day he’d given his students leave for that mission._ _  
__  
__Still, returning and catching the boy had gone a long way in smoothing things over in negotiations just as sparing Hayate Gekkō had been intended to do--though to date the swordmaster was still complaining endlessly about his missing arm. While talks were proceeding cordially it was decided that nothing would be committed to until the new leaders spoke face to face. ‘Of course Tsunade’s wording was a little less civil.’ The then new Hokage had written that she only dealt with conniving two-faced bastards when they were in the same room as her. Which in his opinion was a perfectly good rule of thumb._ _  
__  
__Which was exactly why he came upon Sakura in their next meeting--surprised once more to see that girl sitting in the hallway, propped up on a stack of books bigger than she was with her face buried in the pages of some massive tome. It’d been almost a year but he had a good memory and noted her hair was longer than the almost boyish mess it had been the last time he saw her. His eyes glimpsed the title of the book, more than familiar to him considering he’d spent a fair bit of time studying it in his youth._ _  
__  
__A page was flipped and even though he was clearly standing and staring she didn’t bother to look up. Clearly mistaking him for someone else because when she finally deigned to speak to him it was without even a modicum of respect. “Shove off pig.”_ _  
__  
__Sasori was rather sure that was the first time he could recall ever being referred to as such a creature. “My, haven’t you gotten mouthy little girl.” The moment she looked up and realized who was standing in front of her, the color bleached from her face and the dark circles beneath her eyes made them seem all the wider as she glanced up in horror._ _  
__  
__“I uh...didn’t mean you.” The expression she’d been making morphed, lips twisting into an awkward smile._ _  
__  
__Obviously. “Does someone like you even comprehend what they're reading?” He’d asked because while he had already recognized that she wasn’t completely stupid Sasori was not sold on the idea that she’d be able to put into practice what the multitude of books and scrolls she was currently surrounded by contained._ _  
__  
__“Like me?” Sakura’s teeth were bared for a few seconds as she parroted the words. ”And yes, I do understand it.” Her eyes were fiercely narrowed at him, hackles raised._ _  
__  
__If she were so confident there was no reason not to test her. “There is a person suffering from the effects of a chemical nerve agent, what in you opinion could be the main ingredient within the cure?”_ _  
__  
__Sakura hadn’t hesitated with her reply. “Atropine, which can be found in mandrake and other species of nightshade alone with pralidoxime chloride injected into the muscles--repeated treatments might be necessary for best results.”_ _  
__  
__It was a more in depth answer than he had asked for but most importantly it was correct. “Adequate.” Sasori was once more in the midst of reevaluating his opinion of the girl he kept selling short when the door to Tsunade’s office swung open. “Why,” he’d asked in the middle of the meeting when the subject of students came up. “Is that genin parked out your door looking like she’s about to be buried under reading material?”_ _  
__  
__“My new apprentice.” Tsunade had shrugged and drank the Sake he’d refused to take. “Stubborn little thing...Honestly when she first came to me I assigned her more material than I thought she could possibly learn in a week all in the hopes it’d scare her off. Sakura came back four days later and asked for more.” She gave a short laugh. “ How could I refuse that talent and dedication? And she kinda reminded me of myself when I was just a kid. Desperate to be something more than I was, it wasn’t easy being that man’s granddaughter...”_ _  
__  
__“Just because she can memorize the information doesn’t mean she can utilize it under pressure.”_ _  
__  
__“Oh,” Tsunade had grinned, all teeth. “She can, I’d know; All her exams are given under simulated combat conditions. Give Sakura a few years and I bet she’ll give you and your granny a run for your money.”_ _  
__  
__“The old bat? Maybe. Me?” Sasori didn’t even bother to mask the ungracious curl of his lip. “Never.” he’d scoffed. "You should refrain from making bets with your reputation."_ _  
__  
__Scowling at the mention of her propensity for losing, her cup hit the table with a clack. “Why the interest in her?” Tsunade had wondered after a moment. “Did she say something to you?”_ _  
__  
__“Her tournament match in the last Chūnin selection was embarrassing.” After a moment he reconsidered the indictment and added to it; “Most of Konoha’s genin were. I simply expected more from Hatake’s students.”_ _  
__  
__Taunade made a vague noise that sounded somewhat like a muffled snort. “A Student needs a proper teacher to truly cultivate their talents, Kakashi is a good Jōnin...but I think his own experiences clouded his judgment when it came to teaching. Despite those shortcomings I think he taught her quite a few important lessons.”_ _  
__  
__Sasori spent very little time considering what those lessons were but since their talks were scheduled to take place over a series of days and Sakura seemed permanently camped outside the doors he took the time to see just how knowledgeable she was on the information she was consuming. Everyday it was a new question and out of the five she’d only been wrong once._ _  
__  
__“No.” He’d said, regarding her answer about some formulae--the reply was a droop in her shoulders. “Using suma root would negate the sedative properties. You have until I finish this meeting to figure out a more appropriate combination.” None of his students had any skill in biological sciences like chemistry. Kankurō tried for a time but he’d been a poor student with a mind more inclined towards machinery. As such Sasori’s vast expertise in the area was seldom shared and he never begrudged a person’s attempt at remedying their own ignorance._ _  
__  
__Sakura had seemed surprised at the leniency but nodded once and went about studying the long list of ingredients she’d written out. By the time he had returned she’d come up with a more acceptable answer._ _  
__  
__“Valerian and Columbine.” She’d piped up, teeth worrying her lips._ _  
__  
__“Better.” He couldn’t recall any of his students smiling like that before--then again he’d always taught them that showing too much emotion was like giving someone a primer in what made them tick. Sasori acknowledged that the girl was at the very least clever under the right tutelage._ _  
__  
__At the end of that week Sasori caught sight of her walking the hallways, clothes tattered and working a series of rather large splinters out of her forearm. “Losing fights with trees now?” her hair was a tangled mess and there was dried blood flecking off from where it had dripped down her chin and neck. Apparently too tired to muster the effort it took to glare at him as she’d done the last time he’d mocked her abilities Sakura grunted in reply._ _  
__  
__“No, more like I lost to the person punching trees and turning them into shrapnel, expecting me to dodge every little piece...and then hitting me in the gut when I follow my protect-your-eyes instinct…” She sighed when the piece of wood was worked out of her skin and tossed the bit into the trash. “Not that I’m ungrateful or anything, I understand how important it is that I avoid taking as much damage as possible...A dead medic doesn’t heal and all that. It's just such a pain. Literally. ” her hand took on a green glow as she laid it over the gaping hole. “I really only have myself to blame for not moving faster.”_ _  
__  
__It had not been long since Sasori had last seen her and she was already on to using Mystical Palm--there were not many in Suna who could use it and even less who did it well, one of which being his grandmother. “It seems that you thrive under a more brutal training regime.” If he knew anything about Kakashi at all it was that he was probably as unenthused about training a team as he had been, only Sasori made an effort to do even the things he hated well._ _  
__  
__There was a blink and a tilt of her head as she considered the comment. “I guess I do.” Sakura giggled, the hand ruffling the back of her hair loosening a few twigs and leaves to scatter the floor. “Makes for good practice, knowing that it’s going to hurt if I fail to dodge…”_ _  
__  
__“Sasori-sama?” Shizune called from the open doorway she was standing in. “Sakura, Tsunade-sama said you did well today. if you still need help with the rest of that, come see me later.”_ _  
__  
__Sakura's hand stilled and her eyes went wide. “She did? Ah no, I’m fine there are no broken bones this time.” She bowed in his direction and then skipped off humming to herself._ _  
__  
__He couldn’t recall seeing someone so happy to be used as a splinter-pin cushion, but it might have been that she was more pleased to be covered in wood slivers rather than sporting broken bones._ _  
__  
__Things steadily improved between the two villages, Suna became the next host to the upcoming Chūnin exams. His own students had received field promotions from unbiased parties. Promoting them himself ran the risk of putting their skills and readiness into question and he could never have that, not when it would have reflected badly on his own talents._ _  
__  
__One of his first orders of business had been to alleviate the fiscal issues that threatened to capsize the village, Rasa had been driven to desperation by those issues but Sasori, having run the risk-reward ratio in his head a few times over had come to a solution and all he had to do was bide his time and then whisper in the right ear. In the meantime he made nice and smiled like he wasn’t planning an assassination. It was easy enough and in the interim he used the network he’d created to supplement Suna’s budget. Information could sell for a higher price than gold to the right buyer._ _  
__  
__Suna’s hosting of the exams went far smoother than Konoha’s, by the end the casualties only numbered around 4 and one was a complete accident. Some pathetic genin from Iwa had managed to get bitten by a scaled viper during the 2nd phase of the exam and the time to administer the antivenom had simply run out on them. As much as he enjoyed watching adolescent children and teens beat one another near to death Sasori did not enjoy the extra work._ _  
__  
__Using Sandaime’s abilities to create a third eye had proven tricky in the early days of wielding his creation, back when he had first begun to test the limits of what his volunteer subject could achieve but as with most things, practice made perfect. There was a slight downside in that the consumption of chakra was greater than it would be in one who naturally possessed magnet release and so he shared the surveillance duties with the only other resident user._ _  
__  
__“One of the teams has encountered a giant scorpion.” Gaara paused, finger pressed over his lid in concentration._ _  
__  
__Giant was a bit of a misnomer, they were massive. Bigger than elephants, twice as long and exceedingly rare with carapaces as hard as thick iron plates. Their venom was not particularly strong, acidic enough to melt flesh with prolonged exposure and due to their size the amount produced was rather large. Sasori had hunted one years ago and used the shell to craft Hiruko._ _  
__  
__Gaara’s shoulder’s stiffened for a moment. “It’s dead.” He’d said, blinking and dispersing the view of whatever he’d been witnessing. “...I should apologize.”_ _  
__  
__The statement confused Sasori because he certainly would have remembered being wronged by someone, then he thought for a moment that the statement regarded the attempt his cousin’s kept making to ambush him at dinner time. “I don’t accept.” They were increasingly annoying, bringing their grandmother into things with their sudden desire for a more harmonious family. He’d been fine with how things were before, preferred it._ _  
__  
__“I didn’t mean you, I meant to Naruto’s teammate.” Gaara had been upset to notice that the other boy was not in attendance. “The one I almost killed last time...I don’t remember her name.” If Sasori were more familiar with the emotion he might have recognized the tone his former student spoke in as shame._ _  
__  
__The idea of apologizing to someone for almost killing them, or even fully killing them was a new concept he didn't have a taste for but he reasoned that perhaps what Gaara should feel bad for was losing control of himself--Killing and being killed were built in to their lifestyle but the lack of discipline he’d displayed was a disgrace. “Haruno Sakura.” He’d found it prudent to know the apprentice of a fellow kage and he’d seen and spoken to her enough to memorize it even if he refused to use it. “...She killed the scorpion?”_ _  
__  
__“Hm.”_ _  
__  
_ _Further details had not been forthcoming but the question of how would become clear later._

 _There was the customary month-long period following the second phase, time for political figures to make the trip if they were so inclined. It was somewhere at the end of that pause, just before the tournaments were set to begin that he happened to hear Gaara’s attempt at apologizing._ _  
__  
__In those days It wasn’t uncommon for Sasori to overlay himself with a genjutsu in an effort to avoid people he didn’t want to deal with--which was most people. For whatever reason the moment he became Godaime half the village seemed to take it as a license to bother him with complete nonsense. They seemed to think that just because he had to be civil to foreign leaders he’d suddenly be more personable to everyone else._ _  
__  
__A complete mistake on their part._ _  
__  
__He walked hidden among the streets to one of the few shops he trusted enough to consume anything from. It was mostly lingering childhood attachment, the familiar taste of the lotus buns and setting that made him partial to the spot._ _  
_

 _Sitting at one of the shaded tables with her two replacement teammates, Sakura stared up at Gaara and his flanking siblings, shock plain on her face. The agar jelly to her anmitsu slid off her spoon. "I'm sorry, what?"_ _  
__  
__“I am sorry for almost killing you...and that other one.”_ _  
__  
__“Which other one?” The girl next to her snarked. “Sasuke-kun, or Lee-san? You know she had bruised bones and--”_ _  
__  
__“Ino-pig.” Sakura shushed her with a raised hand and stood from her seat. The fat one simply looked on, mouth stuffed with sesame balls to the point he looked like a chipmunk_ _  
__  
__“Both of them...” Gaara’s body was still as a stone. “ I understand that in our line of work there will be times I have no choice but to kill but that was not the case then. I was...” Whatever he meant to say was cut off by the peaceable hand held between them._ _  
__  
__“These guys, after Sasuke-kun had his...episode, they came to help. Without him, without them people could have died. What happened before that doesn’t matter,” Sakura wiggled her fingers expectantly only for Gaara to continue looking at it in confusion. “For what was done to me, you’re forgiven...this would be the part where we shake hands and forget about it.” She said after too much time had passed. Gaara glanced behind him at his siblings, seeking some sort of moral support which apparently came as a thumbs up from Kankurō. Then the two proceeded with an awkward handshake._ _  
__  
__As a person who held grudges of the well earned sort, that easy acceptance was somewhat striking but not dislikable. It was a utilitarian sort of forgiveness he could see the sense in. Sasori had tuned the rest of the conversation out as soon as the name Naruto slipped out of Gaara’s mouth. He certainly appreciated not having to worry that his youngest student might have a psychotic break at the wrong time of the month and start foaming at the mouth, screaming about his so-called mother but he also could have done without the sudden desperate need for approval and peer-bonding he exhibited._ _  
__  
__There were even more wannabe Chūnin than the last selection exam, enough so that no one from the same village would be fighting someone they knew from home during the preliminaries._ _  
__  
__The bowl-cut with the massive eyebrows was in the ring again and Sasori had little doubt that the spandex wearer would advance to the next rank when all was done given how he had performed against Gaara the last time. “Your work I presume?” He asked without looking at the woman next to him, distinctly recalling the hubbub about how his student's rough treatment during their fight had ended Lee's career._ _  
__  
__“Right in one.” Tsunade replied, gaze set forward as Lee launched his opponent into the air._ _  
__  
__On the terrace below him he could hear the chorus of cheers that coincided with each blow delivered._ _  
__  
__“You sure seem to like him.” Temari’s voice reached his ears and he didn’t have to see her face to know the haughty smirk it possessed._ _  
__  
__It shouldn’t have been surprising that she gravitated towards them--specifically Sakura after her easygoing response to a prior attempt on her life by a sibling that Temari had fast developed a protectiveness for. The three of them were never in possession of a wealth of companions their age and while it would have been easy to blame it all on Gaara’s instability, their family was simply known for its prickly, abrasive personalities irregardless of poorly sealed tailed-beasts._ _  
__  
__Temari for instance took enjoyment out of making people squirm, or trying to--the teasing tone seemed to fly right over Sakura’s head._ _  
__  
__“I admire him.” The other Kunoichi clarified. “Lee-san helped me out once at great risk to himself--he’s a good person and when I see him trying hard like he always does it inspires me. People like Lee and I don’t come from illustrious families or in-born natural talent...whatever gains we make are because of hard work and dedication. Him more so than me.”_ _  
__  
__When her time to fight came Sakura’s declaration about hard work proved to be true. The way that she fought was nothing like he remembered, faster and more intuitive as she pirouetting and flipping herself out of range of a sword stroke. There was a grace and surety that she had lacked the last time he saw her fight. Never taking her eyes away from the Kirigakure-nin she was fighting, the match ended when she slid beneath a swinging blade and caught him with the side of her hand in the back of the neck. His body crumpling to the packed earth._ _  
__  
__She went on to the final rounds, paired against a kunoichi from Kumogakure who was well versed in lighting release, enough so that Sakura was having a hard time closing the gap between them. She was trained as a close distance fighter and the space between her and the lightning user was expansive due to the ground crackling with electricity. For a time it seemed as if the two were stuck at a stalemate until the Konoha-nin reared her elbow back and sent her fist hurtling into the floor._ _  
__  
__The stadium shook and for a split second he wondered if a giant scorpion had tunneled its way beneath the arena, and was preparing to burst forth. The ground split and splintered, sucking inward on itself and capsizing, dragging the Kumo-Kunoichi into the undertow as cracks began to fissure their way up the walls. His eyes took in the epicenter of where the damage had begun once the dust settled and saw Sakura adjusting her gloves from where she stood over her unconscious opponent._ _  
__  
__The way that Tsunade fought was legendary and difficult to master; precise amounts of chakra fed into the limbs to enhance strength and when concentrated into her hands and feet it could then be expelled with force like an explosion just before impact. Sasori had never seen it in action. “And you call yourselves women with that sort of strength.” he mumbled. The ability--for a lack of better word, was truly an awe inspiring sight. Sakura’s limbs and frame didn’t look like they should have been capable of the feat and coming from where she had started the turnaround was praiseworthy._ _  
__  
__“And you call yourself a man with those noodle arms.” Tsunade mocked in turn._ _  
__  
__“I should make you pay for repairs.” Sasori’s face remained blank even as the fissures continued to grow, confident that his arms were perfectly muscled for his skillset and body type. “Did she have to be so extreme? Now we must postpone the rest of the matches to check the structure.” Destroying the arena had solved Sakura’s problem of distance without risking her own wellbeing but he was impatient for the exams to be over so that Suna would be rid of all its extra bustle._ _  
__  
__“Pay for the damages your ragtag team and slipshod plans caused my village first.” Tsunade rebuffed, crossing her arms. ”She used more Chakra then necessary.” She said after a moment, offering some honest critique. “It’s something she’ll get better with as her experience grows. Until very recently she was having trouble using it in actual combat. It takes a lot of concentration and delicate manipulation.”_ _  
__  
__He wondered if it was more difficult than spinning chakra into threads so thin they couldn’t be seen by most eyes. “They weren’t my plans.” By his count Sakura had only begun to mentor under Tsunade less than a year ago and by any standard her progress was impressive, even if she needed to refine her abilities a bit more he was of the opinion that she was prepared for advancement given what he’d seen and knew from their prior meetings. “You’ve done well in instructing her, a teacher truly does shape the student.”_ _  
__  
__“Everything you see was there to begin with,” The Hokage replied, smiling down at the victor she had trained. “She only needed someone to take notice and point the way.”_ _  
__  
__Sasori could still recall how brilliantly the girl had smiled about it, like the image was seared into his corneas and all because he’d said she was probably the most improved out of her academy classmates. Gloved hands clutched to her chest as if in prayer, eyes gleaming and rosy cheeked as she cheered. In those days, he was of the opinion that she emoted far too easily for someone in their profession._ _  
__  
_


	2. II

_  
__A year later he was days away from Suna when word came that there had been an attack. Kankurō had been incapacitated with a substance pilfered out of his personal lab and Gaara had been stolen away. In the whispers of his spies it was said that the ones who had done it intended to draw out the ichibi and sell it to the northern continent as a weapon, a mistake if he ever heard one for a variety of reasons. Konoha was marginally closer than he was and the council had sent a missive for aid their way._ _  
__  
__What Kankurō had been dosed with had not been specified, which meant that it could have been anything he’d tinkered around with in his lab including substances he had yet to test._ _  
__  
__Sasori arrived, according to the guards at the gates only a few hours behind the Konoha team and he proceeded without delay to the hospital after tossing one of them his hat when it became too annoying to bear any longer. The hospital staff were all murmuring quietly in the background as he swept by, too focused to pay attention to the details in the moment._ _  
__  
__Before breaching the room his middle cousin had been stationed in Sasori could hear the craggy voice of his grandmother leaking into the hall. “As a Shinobi from Suna I am more than enough for backup. I may be old but I’m not dead yet and I have more experience than the lot of you put together.”_ _  
__  
__If his grandmother was so eager to expedite her impending death Sasori would not be one to argue. Stepping into the room he saw Kankurō sitting up in bed, sweating and looking pale but much better than the missive had stated. “I see you’re not dead. You don’t look like you’re suffering too much though...Did they mistake a paralytic for one of the deadly ones?_ _”_ _  
__  
__“Heavy metal.” Sakura corrected, holding a vial of the deep violet, almost black substance that he recognized as his greatest poison. It Started with a paralyzing effect,the moment it got into the bloodstream and began eating away at tissues and organs. It could take 3 days for a victim to die, if he allowed them that long.Sasori had perfected the formula when he was 13 and to his knowledge in the nine years since no one had worked out the cure. If he had to refer to his own notes to craft it and so anticipating anyone else could do it without them had simply never crossed his mind._ _  
__  
__“This thing was a real piece of work by the way. The cellular destruction was astoundingly quick. You really ought to keep antidotes on hand for something this awful.” Sakura was still talking._ _  
_

_Antidotes had a shelf life, the longer they sat around unused the less potent they became therefore mixing them before they saw near immediate use was just a waste of ingredients. “Why would I do that? If I were to accidentally poison myself I would deserve to die and if someone were to be poisoned by me I obviously wanted them dead. Making a cure for things meant to kill defeats their purpose and is a waste of time. As for Kankurō? he should have dodged better. ” The moment Sasori decided to kill a person there was no going back and honestly he thought he had taught the boy better._

_“What kind of statement is that? They’re your family and you act like it doesn’t even matter if they die!” Sakura’s teeth flashed at him through her snarl, as though she had completely forgotten who she was talking to but Sasori was far too busy trying to pick apart her words until they made sense to him to care about respect or lack thereof._ _  
__  
__Was it supposed to matter if they were blood or otherwise? His own parents had died and he had never cried, not when they left not, when he finally realized it. They were dead and the world kept moving like they never even existed. That was just how things went, the only way to avoid it was to live forever. “Girl, Is that really something a Shinobi should say ? You should know that all Shinobi are nothing but disposable tools .” Each and every one of them were expendable, himself included if he ever met someone who could best him. There was no use in bemoaning such a simple fact._ _  
__  
__“Why’s that the only way that you can think? Ninja’s are still human beings no matter how you look at it, saying that death is inevitable therefore its pointless to care...what sort of stupid logic is that?” Sakura’s eyes only seemed to grow greener the more fierce her tone became, her fist clenched so tightly it shook as she spoke. “If we go by what you’re saying, then creating that antidote was a pointless endeavor because someday Kankurō’s going to die from something one way or another. If that's the case antibiotics are a waste too."_ _  
__  
__He could almost hear her teeth clenched together in the stunned silence that followed her diatribe. There were very few people who spoke to him so forcefully, without a care to who he was and what he could do but it wasn’t simply the way that Sakura spoke to him that stunned him but the content of what she said._ _  
__  
__Sasori had originally assumed his grandmother was responsible for Kankurō’s continued status among the living. Out of everyone, loathe as he was to admit it she knew his work best. she’d taught him the foundation he would build upon but in the span of a few words and making some logical deductions he realized that it was Sakura who’d accomplished the feat._ _  
__  
__Tsunade had told him that in a few short years her student would prove a challenge and she had been right. For all his arrogance Sasori had never been one to deny a logical argument even when it went against his own preconceived notions, nor did he hold grudges against someone who rightfully bested him--rare as the occurrence was. It was simply the natural order of things, a person who was beaten fairly had no right to be upset at the outcome when they could only blame their own shortcomings._ _  
__  
__Sakura’s argument was simply that if there is something that can be done to save a life it should be done whether what ails the individual is an infection or something more insidious and he cannot disagree but the idea that there is some inherent value to their lives pricks at him. His whole life, Sasori had been taught that Shinobi were different from others--expendable in service to whatever goal they were expected to reach. He’d been born in a time where children were old enough to fight in war as soon as they graduated their academy class._ _  
__  
__He had. He had also been exceptionally good at killing from a young age. Sometimes without even trying. So good they’d given him a moniker that people shivered to hear. The Third, who had been his grandmother’s nephew, had lauded Sasori’s achievements, Rasa too. Even his grandmother had beamed with pride as Sasori’s kill count climbed during the war going so far as to reward him with every touchstone he achieved._ _  
__  
__It was hard for him to fathom that their lives had any value at all, even within his own family. Rasa had used his own wife and child to create a weapon they could barely control. His grandmother had facilitated it then withdrew from the mess that ensued not to mention what she had done to him personally._ _  
__  
__Sasori had underestimated Sakura from the moment he saw her to the moment he walked through the doors that day. He’d been wrong and following that line of thinking, who was to say he wasn’t wrong about the value of life as well? Or at least some lives. Perhaps there was a sliding scale rather than a flat rate. Sasori’s thoughts raced and the whole world narrowed in on the girl responsible, he wanted to know what laid behind those eyes of hers._ _  
__  
__How had she done it? It was roughly two years since she began her apprenticeship and yet Sakura had advanced enough that it only took mere hours to undo years of his work. That wasn’t luck, it was brilliance at work. Sasori wanted to know the processes at play within her head, wanted to share what he knew._ _  
__  
__“How unexpected. ” He said at last. “ I’ll admit it, you really are impressive...at least with antidotes. I’d like to see how you fight but given the situation it is best I remain here. Hag, you’ll have to tell me if she fights as well as she runs her mouth...if you come back alive.” He’s confident that Sakura would survive and somewhat hopeful his grandmother wouldn’t._ _  
__  
__In the time that they were gone as he was cataloguing the state of his workshop and taking into account what was missing and what would need to be changed Sasori came to the realization that he had allowed himself to stagnate over the years. he could not remember the last time he truly had to try at anything. Sakura was like a force making ripples across still water, playing at the surface and stirring what laid beneath._ _  
__  
__Hours passed and the surety he’d been feeling began to fade, what if he’d been wrong and she wasn’t coming back alive? It would be a shame for someone like her to die so young with still so much to learn and so many things left to do. Sasori had not been able to ask--”Ah.” He’d said to the empty air, at once understanding what Sakura had meant when she said human lives had meaning and that the meaning came from others. He was hard pressed to think of a person he ranked above her in the moment, beyond perhaps himself._ _  
__  
__When Kankurō was well enough to move about he’d given him and Temari leave to take a small squadron and offer support if need be. They returned, no casualties accrued just as the sun was sinking, exhausted and sporting minor injuries. All Sasori felt was an odd sense of relief at the news._ _  
__  
__He took a brief report from Gaara, Kakashi and Gai on the events and then Sasori had gone looking for his grandmother--a once in a blue-moon event, all to hear how the girl had done in battle. He could at least trust the old woman’s honest assessment of events, especially regarding a Kunoichi who had learned from a woman she frequently expressed intense dislike for._ _  
__  
__When Sasori had turned 15, he’d demanded that he be allowed to live on his own and his Grandmother graciously moved in with her brother on the other half of their family's territory. He was through the door without a sound, silent by nature and practice when he heard a voice he had not expected._ _  
__  
__“Those are his parents?” Sakura was speaking but her pattern of speech seemed slower than he recalled. “Ah, he looks like his mom…” there was a faint giggle. “But he’s got his hair.”_ _  
__  
__“Yes, My son Orimasu and his wife, Sarari.”_ _  
__  
__He stood still with his back to the wall as he listened. The number of times he had heard those names from his Grandmother’s mouth since they died numbered in single digits and yet she said them so easily to a stranger she’d met less than 24 hours ago. Sasori was above feeling slighted by her and had been since he was 8, he was mostly confused._ _  
__  
__“Back there...You said that hard times breed hard men…they were a part of it, right?” Sakura’s voice was barely audible as she whispered in the dim glow beyond the shadows he rested in._ _  
__  
__“They died when he was very young and I’m afraid I only made the loss worse. I did not tell Sasori they wouldn’t be coming home until long after he realized it for himself.” There was a weary sigh that followed the excuses he had heard before._ _  
__  
__A sniffle sounded out, the noise enough to make him risk peering into the room oh-so-carefully. The two of them sat before the butsudan his grandmother had recently reset, images of deceased family members cluttering the altar. His parents, Rasa, Kurara, Yashamaru and Ebizō’s son who had lent his body to Sasori’s craft were laid among it._ _  
__  
__From where he stood he had a view of Sakura’s face in profile, the bruises and the faint scuffs included. It was the tears that truly fascinated him._ _  
__  
__“It must have been hard for him. Waiting each day thinking every sound of the door could have been them only to find that it wasn’t.” The tears slipped down the curve of her cheek and looked gold in the glow of the altar candles. “And it must have been hard for you too, knowing but not knowing how to tell him...not wanting it to be true.”_ _  
__  
__Sakura could cure a poison he spent years on, she could cry for dead strangers when he couldn’t spare a single drop for his own parents...She was all the things he could not be but complementary to him in nature. Her mind had to work like his own in some way to understand his poison so instantly. That feeling from before only seemed to swell the more he examined the facets of her and compared them to his own._ _  
__  
__“You really are a good girl.” Chiyo laughed, but the sound was strained. “My mistakes are not relegated to Sasori but the other three as well. I sealed that beast into Gaara and in my guilt I left others to deal with the consequences.”_ _  
__  
__There was a thump and Sakura’s head was laid to rest between the pictures of his parents. “But...it’s not too late. You’re still alive...So, you can make up for it.” The words drifted out on half asleep sighs. “I’m not a good daughter.” She whined at random._ _  
__  
__“Oh dear, I simply don’t believe it.” Chiyo said, patting her companion's head. It annoyed Sasori, how close they were in such a short time. “But if it's as you say, it's not too late as long as you--asleep already? I suppose I did give you too much. As for you, haven’t I told you how rude it is to eavesdrop, boy?”_ _  
__  
__“What exactly did you give her and why?” They both knew exactly how he felt about listening in on others._ _  
__  
__“Don’t say it like I did it without her knowledge.” Which was something Sasori probably would have done. “She was sore from the battle--it's not easy allowing someone to use you as a puppet...at first at least. I overestimated how much she would need. Apparently super strength does not equate to super tolerance.”_ _  
__  
__Sasori made a noise of annoyance because he wouldn’t have made such a mistake. “She let you use her like that...how trusting.” To let someone she barely knew have that much power of her, he could never stand for it. Sakura put her life in another’s hands so easily for his tastes._ _  
__  
__“Only for a time.” Chiyo fidgeted with the false arm she’d made for herself after Gaara in a Ichibi influenced tantrum had relegated her earthly one beyond repair. “I had a malfunction and she had to adapt on her own. It was as you said, she is an impressive girl.”_ _  
__  
__“Are you going to leave her there?” Sasori motioned towards the unconscious form, watching the way Sakura’s shoulders rose and fell with each breath. He’s not sure what to call the sudden change in his perspective when it came to her--respect surely, rarely felt admiration even. Most of the people he had ever liked were dead; That scrub of an idiot he’d been friendly with as a child, the Sandaime whose prowess he had respected, Monzaemon who had pioneered the methods of puppetry and the parents whom he had loved were among the few before her he had ever felt even remotely moved by._ _  
__  
__“Well, I can hardly carry her myself.”_ _  
__  
__There was a time he would have counted the old woman before him but resentment had a way of eating away at whatever bond they used to have. It felt like he was always being tested by her in some way, as though she was suspicious of every move he made--which was probably for the best. Even now his grandmother was looking at him with inquisitive eyes as Sasori crossed the floorboards and pulled the girl into his arms. It was clear by the wide set of his grandmother’s eyes that it had not been the answer she expected._ _  
__  
__Refusing to spare more words until his current task was handled with care, Sasori took to the stairs. Sakura wasn’t heavy, decently muscled for her size and profession but the majority of her strength came from actively manipulating chakra through muscle and limbs. When she was settled among the covers he took the time to truly study her face._ _  
__  
__He could recall that as a genin she’d been cute in the way that most adolescents were designed to be so that their elders were less inclined to murder them when they became too annoying. Now, laying over the fish patterned quilt his grandmother and great uncle had stitched, Sakura was gangly, bruised and still growing into her bones._ _  
__  
__She was pretty from an objective standpoint, in possession of a heart shaped face and symmetrical features. From the fan of her lashes to the bow of her lips and hidden in her cheekbones, it was clear that time would only be kind to her._ _  
__  
__A feeling of anticipation welled within him, she’d become more beautiful, more radient than she currently was and what a thing that would be to see. “And what of me?” Sasori had spoken the words to himself in the dark and Sakura stirred, thin slivers of green peeking through her lashes._ _  
__  
__“Hm?” She murmured._ _  
__  
__Sasori was not used to soothing anyone, whether they were awake or half asleep but Sakura was easy to placate. The brush of his hand over her forehead and drowsy eyelids, hushing her as he recalled being done to him in some distant memory. It was easier than expected and she fell silent once more._ _  
__  
__The more he thought the more he realized how still he has been. Sasori cannot remember the last time he had to actually try at anything. He’d spent a few years of trial and error, working out the kinks in his method of creating human puppets and during that same period he had seen, or assumed his poison to be perfected. Not much of note had been done since and time spent training unasked for students nor the running of a village were not an acceptable excuse. What he knew was that without adversity there could be no improvement._ _  
__  
__“It just won’t do,” Sasori said to the sleeping girl. “For you to go on getting better while I remain as I am.” One either evolved or died and he had no desire to do the latter while Sakura was in the process of the former. He had no problem being bested, it was his own fault and it only served to prove how far she had come despite his own beliefs but that also did not mean he was going to let the current score remain forever unchecked._ _  
__  
__With one last look at the slumbering girl, he rose and returned downstairs. “Well?” Sasori prompted, rolling his wrist impatiently. “Report.”_ _  
__  
__“Time has certainly done nothing to improve your manners.” His grandmother sniffed, sharp curiosity in her dark eyes. “What, exactly would you like to know?”_ _  
__  
__“Everything.” Sasori replied without hesitation. He was used to her regarding him with suspicion ever since he inadvertently helped an idiot murder theirself._ _  
__  
__“Ah, of course. How silly of me at my age to forget such a thing.” The old woman croaked a brief laugh and began to recite the events following their departure, of how the girl sleeping in the spare room had risked her life like a fool for someone who had more years behind her than ahead of her not once, but repeatedly. The rogue they had fought made away with quite a bit of Sasori’s poison and Sakura’s forethought in preparing multiple antidotes and her quick uptake on their opponents movements pushed them towards a victory. His grandmother might have landed the killing blow but none of it would have been possible without Sakura._ _  
__  
__“That slug-woman outdid herself in picking an apprentice. The power in her blows...for a moment I thought the entire cavern would cave in on us, but every hit she made was precisely where it needed to be.” It was perhaps the nicest thing Chiyo had ever said about Tsunade._ _  
__  
__Hours before his grandmother would have fulminated about how disgraceful it was that Suna had to rely on Konohagakure for anything. “You like her.” It wasn’t all that surprising given how similar he was to her._ _  
__  
__“Yes, she’s brilliant, sincere and tenacious. Admirable qualities in anyone and that mind of hers…I never thought I’d say it but Suna could learn a few things from Konoha.” There was a pause as she thought something over and then the tea she had been sipping was set back on the table. “Chikamatsu’s Ten are in awful condition though. It may take quite some time to repair them, some may never perform as well as they once did...but If you have the time, perhaps you would like to have a look at them?”_ _  
__  
__Sasori supposed it was her attempt at a peace offering, he had never been allowed to see them with his own eyes before and Chiyo knew how much he admired the man who created The Ten and that he could hardly stand for such a legacy to be left in disrepair. The tilt of his head was the only affirmation he would give on the subject._ _  
__  
__Sakura’s team and the one that had attended them were set to leave in the morning. He lacked the well of knowledge to give name to the feeling constricting his chest at the thought but inadvertently his eyes made their way to the pictures at the altar. It was a forgone conclusion that she would have to leave but it bothered him not knowing when he would see her again especially when Sasori took into account that to his direct knowledge she had a habit of risking her life for other people on an almost annual basis._ _  
__  
__No, Sasori didn’t want her to go far from his sight at all but he couldn’t exactly force her to stay...but he could set the board in his favor. There is no expectation of immediate payoff, he is setting things up for the long haul, certain that it will pay dividends in the future--all he has to do is plant and water the seeds accordingly. He was determined that at some point their paths should and would cross on a more extended basis, and that when they did he would have all the time he needed. What, exactly that entailed he wasn’t completely sure of yet._ _  
__  
__By morning while the rest of them were saying their goodbyes he already had a proposal drafted and sent to Tsunade, their villages were allies and if one were improved the other would naturally benefit. Konoha was arguably better at preserving life, a fact that the current Hokage loved to boast and he made sure to play on her pride when requesting that she lend Suna the apprentice that had made such an impression on them._ _  
__  
__The request had been open ended and so had been the reply, Tsunade had written that it was under consideration until she felt the timing was appropriate and then followed it up with a rather smug postscript about how she had told him so, to which he had rolled his eyes upon reading. A week or two after her departure the first of the letters Sakura would send his grandmother arrived--it’d been held and brought to him by the mail staff because it was seen as suspicious contact between two villagers of once opposed factions._ _  
__  
__Sasori supposed he should thank the head of the mail department-- the man was rather old and prejudiced when it came to Konoha but he had tipped him off to a valuable source of information. Most of what Sakura wrote about had very little to do with Shinobi life, she wrote about plants and books that she had read._ _  
__  
__The letters came about once a week, circumstances willing and they did very little to sate his curiosity but they were at least something._ _  
__  
__Antics and anecdotes about the people in her life were a recurring theme, such as an artist named Sai that had recently been placed on her team. Apparently the boy had called her a hag and he’d snorted after reading it and how she had only retaliated to the rude meeting after he’d insulted that house-arrested Uchiha. Sakura never seemed quick to anger when insults were placed against her but when those around her became the target her hands tended to do the talking._ _  
__  
__Still, she wrote about how she worried that she was selfish when it couldn’t be further from the truth in his experience. The selfish did not cry for strangers or risk their lives for others, nor did they spend their time trying to connect with and help an emotionally repressed artist who insisted on calling them ugly, or hag. Sasori was quite sure there was something wrong with the addition’s eyes, or brain but there was a sense of familiarity about how she described the ink-artist._ _  
__  
__“Is there a reason you’ve been confiscating my mail?” Chiyo had asked a few months after the first letter had come. Sasori didn’t even look up, still in the process of rethreading a length of chain through one of Chikamatsu’s puppets, it was probably the most time he’d spent in her company in years._ _  
__  
__“The mail department keeps sending it to my desk.” Which was true. “That old man seems to think you’re plotting something with Konaha, he’s clearly more paranoid than you.” Also true. The part that he didn’t mention was that he didn’t have to read those letters when he knew the concerns were completely false._ _  
__  
__There was a faint narrowing of her baggy eyes but Chiyo said nothing more as she handed over an awl. The letters continued as they always had and if his grandmother had told Sakura there was a 3rd party reading their correspondents her writing gave no indication of it considering he continued to be referred to as Chiyo’s mop-headed grandson._ _  
__  
__Around two years after that Team 7 consisting of Kakashi, Sakura, Naruto, and the newest member Sai were sent on a mission that had them searching for some expatriate that Orochimaru was hungry to get his hands on. Sasori may have been responsible for Konoha getting wind of that, but he had not expected to hear various news reports about how Sakura had been separated and cornered by part of the force Orochimaru had sent out._ _  
__  
__By all accounts it had been bloody on both sides, she had been severely outnumbered and in her own words if it were not for the fact that Sakura had recently presented the byakugō she wouldn’t have made it out alive._ _  
__  
__“One of them cut me from shoulder to hip, I couldn’t get a great view but I’m pretty sure I was only still attached by a small piece of skin. I never used it before but feeling myself get sucked back together by Creation Rebirth was...interesting. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned by how much using it might have cut my lifespan but immediate survival versus long term…Well, you know.” Sakura had written, adding that she had never been more frightened of losing her life, not even when she’d been in that cavern with his grandmother; young, inexperienced and outclassed. “I wasn’t alone then...I had someone to worry about and someone to worry about me.” It was said as an explanation and it only served to prove his hypothesis that she was a person motivated not by herself but by others._ _  
__  
__It was because Sasori had directed the tip off that she had even been there and in retrospect he should have known anything to do with Orochimaru and Team 7 was bound to have their hands in it...they had a vendetta to settle. He very well could have been responsible for her untimely demise by not waiting to provide more information._ _  
__  
__That notion left him with an unpleasant aftertaste as he stared down at the piece of pork pinched between his chopsticks. It was not his job to be concerned about protecting her, or keeping her alive, not when he was neither being paid to do so or tasked with it by some higher authority. Sasori was the higher authority. Despite knowing since the last time he had seen her that an early death was not something he wanted for Sakura he had yet to figure out where he was meant to place her in the scheme of things._ _  
__  
__“So...What's it like being in love?” Kankurō had asked from the other side of the table, painted face making his grin seem almost malicious._ _  
__  
__It was one of those rare occasions that Sasori had deigned to eat with his family rather than turning and walking out the door when he caught them in his house setting up for dinner. His own thoughts took precedence over a pointless battle. Sitting with them did not mean he had to engage with them._ _  
__  
__“Shut up.” Temari sneered, chopsticks fisted in her hand like a downward facing blade. The relationship between her and that Nara boy had recently taken on new depths despite the distance they were often subjected to as she traveled back and forth as an ambassador and Kankurō made it a point to tease her mercilessly after years of her denying any such possibility._

 _  
__The skin between Gaara’s nonexistent brows wrinkled. “What is it like?” Love may have been written on his forehead but he didn’t understand the many nuances it came with. He understood familial love, though the beginning of his life had been rather lacking in it and he understood platonic bonds but the romantic sort was just beyond him._ _  
__  
__Temari’s lips parted and moved soundlessly, struggling to form words. She blew Kankurō off because he’d been teasing her, she couldn’t blow off a genuine question from her stunted little brother. “It's complicated.” She sighed, fist relinquishing their stranglehold on her eating implements. “And it’s also not...When you’re not with them, you want to be. Your thoughts are always on them, you think about things that they would say if they were with you...They fill up the pieces of you that are missing without even trying.”_ _  
__  
__Gaara only seemed more confused by the explanation. “I feel that way about Naruto.”_ _  
__  
__“Yea, but do you think Naruto is cute?” Temari arched a brow._ _  
__  
__“No.” Was said after a moment of consideration._ _  
__  
__Temari’s shoulders shook in quiet laughter. “I guess it doesn’t make a lot of sense until you’ve felt it for yourself.”_ _  
__  
__The meat had slid from Sasori’s hold, falling back onto his plate in a display of less than perfect etiquette. He worried, he wanted to be with her, he certainly thought about her more frequently than he should and he’d long since acknowledged that Sakura was capable of the things he was not, that she had the pieces he lacked. There was a snap and three pairs of eyes drifted in his direction._ _  
__  
__“You uh...broke your chopsticks.” Kankurō gulped._ _  
__  
__Sasori didn’t say anything but the look he gave was enough to make the hardiest of shrubs clinging to life out in the desert wither._ _  
__  
__Regardless of how complementary he and Sakura were it was ridiculous to fall for a person he only knew from brief interactions and letters that weren’t even addressed to him, no matter how highly he regarded her. It didn’t matter if they read the same books and that they liked the same colors, or if the rambling he despised in any other person entertained him coming from her. Maybe he was enthralled about her theories regarding infectious diseases and the fact that she, at least in her letters, was rather vicious when it came to mocking council members in her own village--he’d thought her too straight-laced and loyal for such a thing._ _  
__  
__It did not have to mean anything that he’d sought her out on the rare occasions he found himself in Konoha or that his eyes were intrinsically attracted to a particular shade of pink and it certainly didn’t have to mean anything that he subtly had his contacts keep him apprised of Sakura’s whereabouts._ _  
__  
__Refusing to believe that it might have been true he abruptly stopped reading the letters. For a month or two and then in the middle of a freshly arrived note he had to stop, feeling as though he had missed something important in the letter preceding it. Which was how Temari found him rifling through the box in which Chiyo saved every single correspondence she received from Sakura._ _  
__  
__“What are you doing?” The blonde, one arm hiding the scroll she’d pilfered behind her back, eyebrows arched a mile high._ _  
__  
__“I could ask you the same thing but I won't,” Sasori replied without a glance. “ If you don’t ask any more, I don’t tell.” And that was that. There was a faint narrowing of her teal eyes at him as they flicked from the label of the box and back to his face but Temari said no more and simply backed out of the room mumbling under her breath._ _  
__  
__Maybe Sasori did love Sakura, maybe it was simple, unstated curiosity as he waited for his long term plan to come to fruition but whatever it was he wasn’t willing to give up the small connection he did have to her even if it was a secondhand one._ _  
__  
__Abdicating once Gaara reached an acceptable age had been his plan from the start, while he might have enjoyed the control being Kazekage afforded Sasori liked to maneuver his power plays in the dark with as few eyes on him as possible. They were more than a few years into their alliance with Konoha and he felt it was only appropriate to invite Tsunade to the next Kazekage’s inauguration. He had subtly suggested she ought to bring those who had built a rapport with Suna as a show of their strong bond and was pleased to see Sakura’s name on the list of those who would be traveling with her._ _  
__  
__He knew the moment the retinue Sakura was with had stepped into the village and though Gaara had yet to officially take up the mantle all the duties had been passed over to him, leaving Sasori with ample free time. It wasn’t difficult to stage what seemed like a perfectly natural run in as he avoided the Tsuchikage’s extremely annoying pupil that had the gall to call himself an artist._ _  
__  
__Naruto was extremely loud upon meeting Gaara, making plans to go out for a meal later which was how Sasori knew the best place to lay in wait._ _  
__  
__Standing at the crossroad that intersected the area they would be meeting in, he caught a glimpse of Sakura for the first time in a year as she turned a corner and stepped right into her path. It was like a tension he hadn’t known he was carrying gave way. Taller, with a slimmer face and fuller hips, she had grown into her bones and found a particular fondness for boots. Facing her made it clear he’d been avoiding the truth. “Ah,” Sasori finally pinpointed one of the things that was so intriguing about her. “ It seems like every time we meet you’re different but exactly the same.” It was her eyes. They were the same as the first time he saw her and every time after; verdant green and vivacious._

_“And you haven’t changed since the day I met you .” Sakura replied dryly, hands hitching their way to her hips. Within her letters she called him inscrutable and she still gazed at him in wary confusion._ _  
_

_Sasori never considered himself particularly vain, it was simply a matter of taking care of the assets he had in order to make them last. He was pleased she had noticed. “Oh, Darling Girl you certainly do know how to compliment a man.” Sakura was close enough to touch after so long. The slide of his palm against the curve of her cheek was rewarded by a burst of red blooming across her skin. “I used to think that true beauty only existed in things that were everlasting and unchanged by time, but I’m finding more and more that some things are...transcendent .” She may have grown and changed in some ways but she was in possession of certain immutable qualities that made her timeless in his eyes.  
  
_ _The mark at the center of her forehead was even more proof of how far Sasori knew she had come from the scrap he’d rolled his eyes at so long ago. His thumb traced a path along her cheek and over her forehead, finding no difference in texture between her skin and the byakugō. “You really are something to behold. It’s a shame you’re wasted where you are.” Sakura was looking at him, wide eyed and startled--lips parted as she no doubt puzzled over his words._ _  
__  
__In her letters she was focused on her work, bored and unchallenged when she wasn’t being stymied for advancement at the hospital due to her so called inexperience. Sakura didn’t write about romantic entanglements unless it was to say that she wasn’t interested in them but standing there flushing as she gazed up at him, Sasori wondered if it was simply that she hadn’t been pursued by the right sort of man._ _  
  
_

_That loud-mouth blonde called her name and Sakura’s head turned from him._

_“You should consider a longer visit to Suna sometime.” Sasori had sighed, stepping away from her reluctantly. “It could be...mutually beneficial.” He knew what he wanted and now that Gaara would be taking over most of the burden that came with leading he'd have more leeway to do as he pleased._ _  
_ _  
_ _Later, Sasori would catch a glimpse of her in the banquet hall, corralling Naruto like he was a wayward sheep from some argument he was about to have about peace and the futility of hatred in front of the fire Daimyo. Looking exhausted and annoyed as she passed him over to the care of the ink painter she talked about in her letters. He left his own seat, taking his cup along with him to follow her, ignoring the eyes at his back._ _  
_ _  
_ _Sakura turned, sensing someone at her back and muffled a squeak when she caught sight of him. “Kaze-Sasori...Sama?” she struggled over the correct way to call him._ _  
_ _  
_ _“Sasori.” He preferred to hear his name from her without any honorifics, unbothered by how others would take it. Sasori gripped her wrist and pressed the cup to her hand. “Drink it before you dehydrate.” Green eyes darted from the vessel and back to his face, lips pursued as she considered the dangers. “Little girl, you’re insulting my intelligence, I wouldn’t poison you from the cup I’m holding in front of an entire delegation of Shinobi.” Or at all but he took a sip to prove his words._ _  
_ _  
_ _“That is a good point.” Sakura mumbled and accepted the cup, sniffing at the contents before making the decision that she would in fact trust him. There was a clamor from across the room Naruto and the Tsuchikage’s attendant Deidara were forehead to forehead one looking amused and the other about to explode. “Shit.” She half-choked and fumbled as she dashed off, cup still in hand._ _  
_ _  
_ _Kankurō and Temari were sitting slack-jawed at the table when he returned in an abysmal display of ill manners and poor emotional restraint._ _  
_ _  
_ _“I-i...thought Obaachan was senile when she said you liked her!” Temari mumbled, palms pressed against her forehead as though she were fighting through an existential crisis._ _  
_ _  
_ _“And I thought you were just like...plotting Sakura’s downfall when Temari said you were stealing letters.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _“It's not stealing if I didn't take them.” Sasori corrected. “I merely read them and put them back.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _Kankurō gasped, slapping his hands on the table loud enough to draw attention to himself. “You're not even denying it!”_ _  
_ _  
_ _“Why would I?” He’d already done that and it had been a pointless waste of time._ _  
_ _  
_ _The two siblings looked at one another. “You know what this means right?” Kankurō asked with a sigh._ _  
_ _  
_ _“We were wrong and he actually is a human being?” Temari grimaced, pushing her plate away._ _  
_ _  
_ _“Well yes that and we have to make sure they hook up.” The middle child explained and shushed Temari’s incoming complaint. “No, think about it; Do you want to deal with a Sasori that is more miserable and mean then usual? Think about our self preservation here, Sis.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _Sasori, who had only been half listening to the prattling as he watched Sakura pry both blondes away from one another, smirked. “I don’t find that I am in need of your help but it is heartening to see that the two of you have some sense. I’m glad I taught it to you.”_ _  
_ _  
_ _“I think we’ll all find that this is easier said than done.” Temari sneered in perfect imitation of her former Kage._ _  
_ _  
_ _Minor meetings and parting followed, subtle hints were dropped by all around that Sakura should come for a tenure to Suna by a multitude of sources and Tsunade seemed close to making a commitment but then fell through. “Sakura just started dating.” Temari had explained with a shrug after returning from a trip. “I mean it hasn’t been explicitly said but the signs are there. I don’t think she’s keen to upheave it after Sakura’s been so focused on work all these years.” She squinted. “Why aren’t you bothered?”_ _  
_ _  
_ _He certainly wasn’t pleased reading her letters and realizing she was seeing someone--a person who wasn’t at all hard to figure out given the not-so-subtle clues Sakura left behind. It was someone she had known forever, someone she had a crush on as a girl, and someone on her team. It wasn’t the artist, it wasn’t the blonde and he was positive Kakashi was not an option. “It won’t last.” Sasori shrugged, centering the eye of his newest creation._ _  
_ _  
_ _“How do you know?”_ _  
_ _  
_ _There had been so many ways to answer that. “It took him 11 years to notice Sakura and according to her, he doesn’t want his family to know. Does that sound like a good foundation for a long term relationship?” He hadn’t hidden how he felt from his family and they were almost insufferable. “And the two of them had nothing in common.” Sasori was almost positive most of their conversations revolved around Naruto and that Sakura did most of the talking._ _  
_ _  
_ _Doubt was clear as day all over Temari’s face. “What if it goes on longer than you think?” It probably surprised her how patient he was being but laying in wait was not the same as standing still. He had plans and if he had to move to Konoha to fulfill them he would._ _  
_ _  
_ _“It wont.” It was fine, even if he itched at the thought of someone else putting their hands or worse all over her. Letting Sakura learn and live on her own terms was what had shaped her into someone he coveted, he couldn’t have what he wanted by crushing it in his grip. If he wanted her subtle was the best way to be. In the meantime Sasori continued chipping away at Tsunade in the correspondences they kept, He wrote because she was gatekeeping him from what he wanted and because she had information...it helped that it drove his grandmother into fits._ _  
_ _  
_ _He never begged, simply wrote about how it would benefit all parties involved._ _  
_ _  
_ _Another two years of waiting and the reward for his efforts was ready to be reaped. He’d been staring down at an enclosed dish full of flesh eating bacteria as Deidara prattled on about something he was completely uninterested in, debating the merits of testing the new strain on a living subject when a piece of paper fluttered down from the ceiling._ _  
_ _  
_ _“What's that?” The iwa-nin wondered, pausing in the middle of his complaint about how static and un-dynamic Sasori’s work was._ _  
_ _  
_ _Reading over the few scant lines he recognized as Tsunade’s handwriting, Sasori began to laugh. The noise startled Deidara enough that he visibly shuddered in the dim lighting._ _  
_ _  
_ _“What mortal enemy did you kill?” Deidara asked, picking up the letter Sasori had left out. “Who's coming and what are they wishing you luck for...?”_ _  
__  
__“My future wife.” Sasori, finding himself in a gregarious mood, placed the dish in a bin to be incinerated._ _  
_ _  
_ _Deidara grew even paler at the words. “What was that now?”_ _  
_ _  
_ _He did not repeat himself._ _  
_ _  
_There was a shuffle of papers as Sakura’s head nuzzled deeper into her arms and it tore him from the memories. “Enough of that.” Sasori said and coiled pink tresses about his finger, giving a few gentle tugs to rouse her.  
  
“Hakka...did you bring more coffee?” She slurred in response, head popping off the desk with half open eyes.  
  
The sudden rising brushed her forehead against his jaw. “Wrong person, do I look like a nervous, star-struck wreck?” Sasori snorted. He might have been in awe of Sakura, but at least he could string sentences together. “Sakura…” he cooed, allowing her to sleepily press her cheek against his neck, amused to find that she was sniffing him. “You have been so graciously provided a bed at my home. Be a dear and use it rather than your desk. I’m positive it's more comfortable.”  
  
Curiously, using Sakura’s name made her stiffen against him, as though she were standing to attention. “Sasori,” She said, and he could practically hear her swallowing. “What are you doing here?” her seat wheeled away, creating distance as she realized how close they had been and what she’d been doing. ‘Please don’t notice that I was smelling you.’ she pushed some papers around on her desk, looking anywhere but at him.  
  
“Bringing you dinner.” Sasori smirked, leaning closer. “Little girl...did I smell nice?”  
  
There was a squeaking noise as she strangled a fistful of paper. “Wait, what?”  
  
Tapping a finger at the boxes he’d brought along Sasori not-so-innocently repeated himself. “I asked if it smelled nice…”  
  
“Oh, uh...yes.” The paper she’d been holding was being smoothed out but there was nothing to be done about the crinkles scattered about its surface. “You didn’t have to bring it though.” The statement didn’t stop Sakura’s mouth from watering when he began to pull the lids off.  
  
“You made me wait long enough.” Sasori replied poignantly, tapping a carved pair of chopsticks into her hands.  
 _  
_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! It took forever.

**Author's Note:**

> I did not die, I was just busy giving birth to this monster...Curse those of you who said they wanted a prequel to see Sasori falling in love. Damn you! I just about broke myself writing this -shakes fist-
> 
> On that note, thank you to FireThatFox and everyone else who listened to me complain endlessly and kept pushing me lmao. Sorry it took so long.
> 
> There were several moments where I was just like “I just wanna give up its garbage and it goes on forever.” If it's no good I will yeet myself out a window.
> 
> Canon implies that Gaara cannot sleep a single wink without Shukaku taking control. I say that's bullshit because It would literally kill him. He simply goes unnaturally long periods without it, the longer he goes the more unhinged he becomes but as consequence when he starts to reach his breaking point he becomes more vulnerable. That's how Sasori drugs him up and Gaara proceeds to get a solid block of sleep, waking up feeling refreshed and less crazy. He’s a binge sleeper.
> 
> Interestingly, Sakura knew about puppetry as far back as part one and I would say it was foreshadowing on Kishimoto’s part if I believed he had a clue what he was doing 90% of the time. He didn’t. Otherwise Shukaku would have recognized Kyuubi during Naruto VS Gaara.
> 
> The canon politics of Naruto do not make much sense to me as they are described. I mean, If I were a daimyo and I was faced with hyper powerful villages that that housed singular individuals that could bring down entire small nations on their own...I wouldn’t want to be on their bad side is all.
> 
> Part II will be up tomorrow, probably. Maybe earlier, we’ll see. 


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